As Denmark Reintroduces Border Controls, Is The Heart Of Europe - Its Customs Union - About To Flatline?

While Europe may have sold its soul to the devil over the past decade, after it was "forced" to engage in diabolical currency swap deal with the "godly" likes of Goldman Sachs simply to mask that Europe's monetary union is nothing but a debtor's prison to the weaker peripheral countries at the expense of the stronger ones (or one: Germany), it still retained its beating heart - the concept that served at the core of the European Union: the so-called customs union, or a mobile, borderless workforce. Alas, the heart has just entered ventricular fibrillation, as for the first time, a country, Denmark, has taken what appears to be the first step toward defecting from Europe's 60 year old experiment of intimate, and sometimes, forceful unification. As EUBusiness reports: "Denmark will reintroduce controls at its
intra-EU borders with Germany and Sweden, Finance Minister Claus Hjort
Frederiksen said Wednesday following an agreement between the government
and the far-right. "We have reached agreement on reintroducing
customs inspections at Denmark's borders as soon as possible," Hjort
Frederiksen told reporters." The official reason: "controls would counter illegal immigration and
organised crime." The unofficial reason: the great, and failed, experiment at unity may be ending.

And while Denmark is the first to officially defect, even under a palatable explanation, it surely won't be the last: "The idea of
controls at borders within the EU, also defended by Italy and France,
was pressed by the far-right Danish People's Party and its head Pia
Kjaersgaard, who argued controls would counter illegal immigration and
organised crime." One thing we have seen in Europe is that courtesy of the relentless ebb of austerity, the far-right is progressively gaining a foothold in every country. And one can be certain that the populist whiplash against all things European, will not be contained to merely the monetary arena, but will rapidly devolve to restoring borders, following which the EU will exist only in history books.

Because Denmark is a member of Europe's visa-free Schengen area, it cannot reinstate full frontier controls, and will still follow European Union rules with its current plan to station customs officers permanently at borders to conduct random checks on vehicles.

"Everything will take place within the limits of Schengen," the minister said.

"Over the past few years we have seen an increase in trans-border crime, and this is designed to curb the problem. We will be building new facilities at the Danish-German border, with new electronic equipment and number-plate identifiers," he told a news conference.

The minister added Denmark wanted Danish customs officers to be permanently present at the Oeresund Bridge that links Denmark and Sweden.

Denmark's decision comes a day ahead of a key meeting in Brussels on Thursday at which EU interior ministers are to debate proposals for restoring temporary border controls within the visa-free zone.

Naturally, the European Commission had anticipated this possibility:

The European Commission proposed last week to introduce a mechanism that would allow states to temporarily reinstate checkpoints during sudden surges in migration or if an EU country fails to control its frontier with non-EU nations.

However, it did not act fast enough: "Denmark thus went ahead with tighter border controls before a possible EU decision on the matter." As such, Europe's tardiness will serve as a slap in the face of its own bloated bureaucratic regimes.

Lastly, it appears the Danes have no intention of wasting any time:

The new controls will enter into force within two to three weeks, he said.

Yesterday Greek riots, today border checkpoints, tomorrow: the end of a failed new world order dream?

You mean internal or external? Externally, i cannot imagine them being THAT stupid to start ANOTHER war.... it is already braindead to wage war on one country, while the own "country" is falling apart.... but TWO? I'm not sure they're that stupid.... but whenever i say something like this, it seems humans want to prove me wrong.

As for internal wars (inter-country).... as far as i know, there is no popular support for something like this at all.... at least not for the eurozone. Civil war -> intervention -> one big mess.... may however be a possibility.

You are right. The oil price needs to STAY down to drive down gas. It came back up too quickly. If by some miracle current prices are sustained for two or more weeks, you should see gas come down significantly IF old trends hold. Who knows if that is the case any more? After all--this is "world falls apart" night on ZH.

Remember that there is a difference between the EU and the Euro/EMU(European Monetary Union). The main issue with europe, is the euro, and how debt and debt-rating is handled. Phrased another way, the main problem is the currency-peg called euro, and the export/import schizm. Fixing those issues... even by amputation.... does not require dissolving the EU, just the EMU.

As for germany... a lot of things can happen in 10 years. However, you would need a LOT of reprogramming of germans, for them to not feel uneasy about invading another country. I think you can guess why.

Very true about the Danes; and as for the latter point, from what i hear of my close Indian friends, they say they wouldn't think of going to an office without some sort of bribe to get their way. Of course, they are the haves.

That is how it works here in India Zero. Bribes are built in, which is seriously frustrating. Can't stand it. People justify them as 'it is how it is", but I don't buy it.

And I've been to and lived with danes and had a Danish GF in college. They are totally socially controlled creatures. Coddled with years of state sponsored college, future looked after and tons of subtle "twists" in their world-view, just like Japan, that make them naturally xenophobic.

The Muhammed cartoon fiasco? I'll inform you right now how that went down: There were a set of cartoons published in a danish newspaper. These mocked the prophet Mohammed, but not outside the traditional light hearted mockery of any religious icons. Some muslim activists then put these cartoons, but also other cartoons that they've collected elsewhere (they said these were sent to them), into a collection (binders) and took to several muslim countries, starting with Egypt. They then presented the whole to the imams, as if these were published in newspapers. This was incorrect. The cartoons that they added (and were NOT published in any newspaper) were very insulting, depicting Mohammed as having sex with a dog, Mohammed as a pig, and it was these that resulted in a concerted protest and subsequent public burning of danish flags. The cartoon that had the dog was even not from any danish source, but was an altered (photoshopped) french cartoon that had been around for at least a decade.

The newspaper was then ordered by the government to retract all support for the published cartoons, which they refused, on the basis of freedom of speech.

There's a very deep and strong tradition of mocking religion here in europe, since the (devastating) religious wars, europeans have been free to use mockery as a political weapon (Erasmus), as most religious movements do have political clout. Therefore restrictions on the freedom to mock are seen as direct assaults on the freedom of speech, and are treated as such. Danmark is a closed country in many ways (as for currency, and economy) but very open in many other. To state it's xenophobic is to say you don't understand it at all. It has, like scandinavian countries and my own Netherlands, a strong anti-racism group, and will not tolerate persecution based on race.

So please see the issue for what it is? It was a concerted effort to raise a conflict over freedom of speech versus religious laws (Sharia) that the orthodox muslims like to adhere to, and wish to implement in european countries as well. (Their representatives stated this here publically.)

Reptil - I appreciate your post. Just at the very end you sound a little xenophobic. Let me explain why. I live in a Non-Christian country. Christian missionaries bribe poverty stricken converts by for example offering free university attendance in some cases. They pollute the country-side with large yellow metal signs, written in the local script, selling their cause. Often, these are nailed high into the few remaining giant trees by the roads. Christian missionaries are usually trying to convert the whole world. Often they say this publicly.

Even on American TV. In fact, they're raising donations using that theme.

So the West has gone around the world for centuries now, telling people how to believe. When somebody comes to the West and tries to do the same, westerners get to appreciate the experience for a change.

When somebody comes to the West and tries to do the same, westerners get to appreciate the experience for a change.

Not only that. We get to appreciate our own elected governments spending our tax money on supporting, protecting and defending those people so they can live in the style they are used to back home, never bother to learn the language because the state gets an interpreter or even get a job or stop acting/dressing so funny so that anyone would hire them. Because making any demands on our "guests" is, apparently, Racist!

The Danes hate *all* religious interference inro their daily life with a vengeance. The 30 years war is stil remembered in a way - then some politicians want to bring all that crap back. Of course people will resist.

The wars are raging. Try to buy a BMW in Germany and register it in France. By the time you get through the red tape you have white hair and you need to trade in. Borderless economies?

That's "just" buerocracy. Europe and especially germany loves that.

In the case of germany, it is also the reason why the overall mentality is so "docile": They love "the machine". Every problem gets solved by building a machine, including social machines, with people becoming cogs of the machine. Even when germans are fucking angry, they are merely strongly "asking" "those above" for changes to the machine. This way, the population and politics get strongly abstracted away from each other... germans cannot imagine doing politics themselves, nor can they imagine directly interacting with politics: Everything and everyone has its role and function - and sticks to it.

This does make them very "civilized" and "proper" people... they are quite possibly the most unproblematic culture to do business with, precisely because they tend to play according to the rules. It also makes them highly incompetent doing anything without a bloated machine.... or god forbid, rootlevel overhauls.

Possibly by 2015. If it doesn't happen by then, look for it to start maybe 2060 (during the next Kondratiev winter). I am guessing it will be Fascists vs. Muslims. No way they can support exponential hordes of dole babies that turn into unemployed, alienated youth. The PC fantasyland is doomed. There will be widespread deportations/concentration camps and a general war of Europe vs. the Middle East. The NWO will try to false-flag America into the war but we should stay out of it.

Ehmm no, danish people eat some cheese (danish blue is a Roquefort clone, perhaps you meant that), Gouda cheese is dutch, not stinky at all, and french people have no qualms about that, but prefer their own (much more stinky) local cheese varieties. Tasted some french cheezes that emit a smell you can lean on. Things that have a look and smell you or I have never encountered. And the fun thing is, each region has their own particular disgusting but delicious culinairy experience. Excellent with a full body bordeaux. Spanish don't like stinky cheezes at all. Detest it. Forget about importing any of these. They'll set of the biohazard alarms. An innocent Cheddar won't even make it into the UK.

The real problem is those fucking towel heads come into the EU thinking its their own arabia and are welcome to the exact same customs back home, WHILE taking all sort of unemployment benefits and medical insurance cause theyve squatted in their little piece of sand in the park for long enough to get a residency pass or, even worse, a passport.

FYI - no issues with the work hard folk of the MENA; its the others that ruin it for everyone.

Why is anyone welcome if they "integrate," i.e., cause ethnic cleansing of the native population already suffering a below-replacement birthrate? As an European living under a gigantic supranational police state set out to do just that, "integrate" us all, I am terrified of it and its political supporters (even if they falsely juxtapose the two ethnic cleansing flavours of "integration" and "multiculturalism"). Is it because your depraved humanist philosophy is so narrow-minded that you consider all humans to be fungible goods with no real ethnic and genetic interests?